Board for mounting magnetic elements

ABSTRACT

A method of making a game board generally comprising the steps of placing a printed game board paper over a fixture having permanent magnets therein, depositing magnetic material on the surface of the game board paper, removing excess magnetic material from the surface of the game board paper, and positioning a plastic material over the game board paper such that the magnetic material on the paper is captured in adhesive which also serves to bond the plastic to the game board paper.

United States Patent [1113,619,313

[ Inventor JosePh such [56] References Cited gggggientley Ave., Culver City, Calif. UNITED STATES PATENTS [21] PP 873,019 3,235,427 2/1966 Koritz I6l/D1G. 7 Filed 1969 Primary ExaminerAnton O. Oechsle [45] Patented NOV- 1 1 Assistant Examiner-Marvin Siskind Attorney-Smyth, Roston & Pavitt ABSTRACT: A method of making a game board generally 54 BOARD FOR MOUNTING MAGNETIC ELEMENTS mpfising Placing a Pimed game. 9?

8 C'aims, 5 Drawing Figs. over a fixture having permanent magnets therein, depositing magnetic matenal on the surface of the game board paper,

[52] U.S.Cl 156/62.2, removing excess magnetic material from the surface of the 27 /1 B, 273/137 A game board paper, and positioning a plastic material over the [51] Int-Cl B29j 5/00 game board paper such that the magnetic material on the [50] Field of Search 156/622, paper is captured in adhesive which also serves to bond the 276, 279, 295, 300; 273/136 B plastic to the game board paper.

BOARD FOR MOUNTING MAGNETIC ELEMENTS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to the field of display, utilizing the properties of magnetism. Although the invention could be utilized in a large variety of applications, it is particularly useful when applied to game boards such as those used by people to play games while traveling in moving vehicles or in a windy area.

A large number of games have been invented and devised which require that game pieces be placed upon the game board in selected positions.,Between moves by the players, it is necessary that the game pieces remain in those positions. Unless the games are especially manufactured so as to preclude movement of the game pieces relative to the board, the game cannot be played in a windy area or by a passenger in a moving vehicle due to the vibration and other forces which are transmitted from the vehicle to the game board, since these forces can cause undesirable movement of the game pieces.

In many prior art devices which have sought to solve theseproblems, it has been proposed that magnets be embedded at predetermined positions between two bonded surfaces of a game board so that game pieces containing magnets or magnetic materials could be held to the board at those preselected positions. It has also been proposed that game boards be manufactured having a layer of magnetic material within the board and extending across the surface thereof, which layer could, if desired, be cut out in certain sections so that the magnetic force can be exerted on a game piece in preselected areas on the board. Boards manufactured according to these expedients are relatively thick, heavy, and expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problems described above are clearly solved in the present invention by placing a printed game board paper over a fixture having prepositioned magnets embedded therein. Any desired magnetically attractable, or ferrous material, such as fine iron shavings, may then be distributed over the surface of the paper, causing the shavings to be attracted to the positions on the paper determined by the spatial relationship of the magnets in the fixture. Excess shavings may then be removed from the paper by any suitable means, and a very thin backing or strengthening member, having an adhesive on one face thereof, may be positioned against the paper so as to capture the shavings between the paper and the backing member. The shavings become embedded in the adhesive, causing their positions to be fixed for the life of the game board. Additionally, the adhesive serves to firmly bond the strengthening member to the game board paper. Game pieces, having small magnets therein, can then be suitably fixed in the predetermined positions on the game board, and will not move until the magnetic force is overcome by a player.

The use of these concepts in manufacturing a game board, or any type of display board for use in similar conditions, allows the production of boards which are lighter in weight and much thinner than those previously available. This results from the fact that no layer of magnetic material or magnets must be accommodated in the thickness of the board. Instead, a relatively light weight quantity of magnetic filings or other material is embedded in the adhesive which also serves to bond the paper to the backing piece. Therefore, a minimum amount of weight is added to the game board and, with the exception of a very small area containing the magnetic materials, the thickness of the board can be considered to be the same thickness as the combined game board paper and backing piece, for all practical purposes.

Additionally, those persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a large cost savings can be achieved in manufacturing boards in accordance with this invention since, not only are relatively expensive magnets not required, but most magnetic materials which can be utilized to form such boards is considered to be unwanted scrap in many other industries.

Thus it can be seen that the production of game and display boards in accordance with the principles of the present invention will clearly solve the problems involved in the use of such boards in places where winds or motion are factors which would tend to disrupt the use of boards, while such factors as cost of manufacture, shipping weight, storage space required, etc., are greatly reduced over those boards previously devised.

Further advantages of this invention will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon perusal of the detailed description and accompanying drawing which illustrate only one, preferred, embodiment of the best mode contemplated for utilizing the novel principles set forth in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fixture utilized in manufacturing the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic, sectional illustration of the method utilized to form the apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the apparatus of the present invention in the final step of manufacture thereof;

FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of a game board manufactured in accordance with principles of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective illustration of game pieces which may be utilized with the display board of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In manufacturing a display board in accordance with the present invention, a fixture II of wood or any other suitable material, having suitably positioned blind bores 13 therein, is provided with a permanent magnet 15 in each of the bores 13. The bores and the magnets inserted therein can be placed in any desired position in the fixture II in accordance with the display desired on the board to be manufactured. A game board paper 17 is then positioned over the fixture 11 such that the positions which will receive and hold the display pieces are each placed over one or more of the magnets IS.

The game board paper may be positioned over the fixture with the printed side thereof either up or down, but if the printed surface is to face away from the fixture, it will be necessary to select very transparent materials for the strengthening plate and adhesive (to be described later) since the strengthening member will have to serve as the playing surface.

When the game board paper has been placed over the fixture, any suitable magnetically attractable material, such as fine iron filings or shavings 19, is placed on the surface of the paper in any way desired, so that the material is attracted by the magnets 15 to the display positions desired.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, one suitable method of distributing the material is to position measuring funnels 21 over each of the magnets 15 so that, when a proper actuation signal is delivered to the funnels, a measured amount of material 19 is delivered to each of the display positions. Alternatively, the upper surface of the paper 17 may be indiscriminately covered with such filings,

In any case, a light shaking of the fixture and paper will cause any excess filings on the upper surface of the paper to fall ofi for collection and later use. Of course, any other suitable method of material removal would be just as satisfactory.

When this has been accomplished, a backing or strengthening member 23 which is suitably molded or formed so as to completely encompass the paper 17, and which has a layer of adhesive 25 thereon, is positioned over the paper as shown in FIG. 3. The material 19 at each of the display positions becomes firmly embedded in the adhesive material 25 and the board paper 17 also becomes firmly fixed to the backing member 23 by the adhesive. As discussed previously, if it is desired that the printed face of the game board paper 17 be positioned away from the fixture II, the backing member 23 and the adhesive 25 should be selected from clearly transparent materials.

As shown in FIG. 4, the primed face of the display board may comprise any suitable format such as the well-known TICK-TACK-TOE game therein illustrated. In each of the game squares, a deposit of magnetic materials 19 has been fixed in position so as to maintain a suitably manufactured game piece in place on the board.

In FIG. 5, a pair of game pieces 25 and 27 have been illustrated which can be utilized with the display board of FIG. 4. Each of the game pieces has been provided with a permanent magnet 29 at its base. When one of the game pieces has been placed within a desired square on the game board 17, the magnet 29 on the bottom of the piece will cause it to be firmly held to the board due to its magnetic attraction to the fixed material 19.

Thus, the applicant has provided an embodiment of a new and improved concept in the art of display boards utilizing magnetic materials. Many modifications and alterations of the illustrated embodiment and its method of manufacture will be obvious to those skilled in the art. For example, the board could be provided with a printed surface on the backing member 23 either as an alternate or as an addition to the printed surface on the paper.

Therefore, what is claimed as the invention is: l. The method of making a board for mounting magnetic elements comprising the steps of:

positioning a first board member over at least one magnet situated in a predetermined position relative to said first board member, said at least one magnet being of substantially lesser dimension than said first board member,

placing magnetically attractable material on said board member so as to be attracted to a position determined by the magnetic field passing through said first board member,

placing a second board member over said first board member with said magnetically attractable material between said first and second board members.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of fixing said second board member to said first board member.

3. The method claim 1 wherein said step of placing said second board member over said first board member includes the step of positioning an adhesive coated surface on said second board member in contact with said first board member.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of fixing said magnetically attractable material in place relative to said first board member comprises the step of bonding said magnetically attractable material to the said adhesive coated surface of said second board member as said second board member is placed over said first board member.

5. The method of claim 11 including the step of removing excess magnetically attractable material from said first board member prior to said step of fixing said magnetically attractable material in place.

6. The method of making a board for mounting magnetic elements comprising the steps of positioning a first board member over a fixture having a plurality of magnets situated in predetermined positions therein,

placing fine particles of ferrous materials on the surface of said first board member which faces away from said fixture,

collecting said fine particles in positions on said first board member as determined by said magnets in said fixture,

removing any uncollected fine particles from said first board member fixing said fine particles in their collected positions on said first board member by covering said surface of said first board member and said collected fine particles with an adhesive coating, and

placing a second board member over said first board member, said collected fine particles, and said adhesive coating, thereby bonding said second board member to said first board members with said collected fine particles therebetween.

7. The method ofclaim 6 including the step of embedding said collected fine particles in said adhesive coating as said second board member is placed over said first board member.

8. The method of making a board for mounting magnetic elements comprising the steps of:

positioning a first board member over at least one magnet situated in a predetermined position relative to said first board member, said at least one magnet being ofsubstantially lesser dimension than said first board member,

placing magnetically attractable material on said board member so as to be attracted to a position determined by the magnetic field passing through said first board member from said magnet,

fixing said magnetically attractable material in place relative to said first board member, and

placing a second board member over said first board member with said magnetically attractable material between said first and second board members. 

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of fixing said second board member to said first board member.
 3. The method claim 1 wherein said step of placing said second board member over said first board member includes the step of positioning an adhesive coated surface on said second board member in contact with said first board member.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of fixing said magnetically attractable material in place relative to said first board member comprises the step of bonding said magnetically attractable material to the said adhesive coated surface of said second board member as said second board member is placed over said first board member.
 5. The method of claim 1 including the step of removing excess magnetically attractable material from said first board member prior to said step of fixing said magnetically attractable material in place.
 6. The method of making a board for mounting magnetic elements comprising the steps of positioning a first board member over a fixture having a plurality of magnets situated in predetermined positions therein, placing fine particles of ferrous materials on the surface of said first board member which faces awaY from said fixture, collecting said fine particles in positions on said first board member as determined by said magnets in said fixture, removing any uncollected fine particles from said first board member fixing said fine particles in their collected positions on said first board member by covering said surface of said first board member and said collected fine particles with an adhesive coating, and placing a second board member over said first board member, said collected fine particles, and said adhesive coating, thereby bonding said second board member to said first board members with said collected fine particles therebetween.
 7. The method of claim 6 including the step of embedding said collected fine particles in said adhesive coating as said second board member is placed over said first board member.
 8. The method of making a board for mounting magnetic elements comprising the steps of: positioning a first board member over at least one magnet situated in a predetermined position relative to said first board member, said at least one magnet being of substantially lesser dimension than said first board member, placing magnetically attractable material on said board member so as to be attracted to a position determined by the magnetic field passing through said first board member from said magnet, fixing said magnetically attractable material in place relative to said first board member, and placing a second board member over said first board member with said magnetically attractable material between said first and second board members. 